Ten Quotes on History

It must be the then-and-now photos of two unemployed persons from two historical eras, which I posted over the weekend in my other blog, that enticed me to read more about the Great Depression. The experience is, to say the least, enlightening and illuminating.

But disturbing, too, in the sense that it gave me a sense of foreboding about a likely future that is slowly unfolding much like a replay of an old familiar movie. I hope it's just my overworked mind playing a trick on me, for it's a future we'd rather not have.

Join me as I explore quotes from wise and famous men who have attempted to explain why history seems to uncannily repeat itself:

Whoever wishes to foresee the future must consult the past; for human events ever resemble those of preceding times. This arises from the fact that they are produced by men who ever have been, and ever shall be, animated by the same passions, and thus they necessarily have the same results. -Machiavelli

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History teaches everything including the future. -Lamartine

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The past does not repeat itself, but it rhymes. -Mark Twain

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We learn from history that we never learn anything from history. -Hegel

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While the mediocre European is obsessed with history, the mediocre American is ignorant of it. -Anonymous

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If history teaches anything about the causes of revolution--and history does not teach much but still teaches considerably more than social science theories--it is that a disintegration of political systems precedes revolutions, that the telling symptom of disintegration is a progressive erosion of governmental authority, and that this erosion is caused by the government's inability to function properly, from which spring the citizens' doubts about its legitimacy. -Hannah Arendt

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You must always know the past, for there is no real Was, there is only Is. -William Faulkner

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Mankind are so much the same, in all times and places, that history informs us of nothing new or strange in this particular. Its chief use is only to discover the constant and universal principles of human nature. -David Hume

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History has now been for the first time systematically considered, and has been found, like other phenomena, subject to invariable laws. -August Comte

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History repeats itself because no one was listening the first time. -Anonymous

(Photo credit: www.sxc.hu)

Ten Quotes on Victory

Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao did the Philippines proud again today as he snatched the WBC lightweight title from Mexican-American David Diaz in an impressive ninth round knockout at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. With this spectacular win, Pacquiao became the first Filipino as well as the first Asian to win four world titles, not counting the Ring Magazine featherweight championship he bagged in 2003 after beating Mexican boxer Marco Antonio Barrera.

Everybody loves a winner. Why, even recent NBA champions, the Boston Celtics, were there cheering for Pacquiao from their special ringside seats. After the game, I even caught them on cable TV having a picture taken together with Pacquiao and his team. Apparently, both are self-confessed members of a "mutual admiration society." According to Ronnie Nathanielsz, "Pacquiao endeared himself to the Celtics when, despite training in Los Angeles, he picked the Celtics as his favorite team to beat the Lakers and when they did their admiration for one another was strengthened even further."

Let's examine the mystique that lies behind VICTORY, in the words of others who have earned one:

Victory is sweetest when you've known defeat. -Malcolm S. Forbes

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If you can't accept losing, you can't win. -Vince Lombard

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Expect victory and you make victory. -Preston Bradley

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If you think you can win, you can. Faith is necessary to victory. -William Hazlitt

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There is no victory at bargain basement prices. -Dwight D. Eisenhower

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To be prepared is half the victory. -Miguel Cervantes

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Victory belongs to the most persevering. -Napoleon Bonaparte

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Victory always starts in the head. -Douchan Gersi

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There are some defeats more triumphant than victories. -Michael Eyquen de Montaigne

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Victory is a thing of the will. -General Ferdinand Foch

(Photo credit: www.sxc.hu)

Quotes on Fathers

Today is Father's Day. I didn't grow up knowing that there is such a special day in the year for fathers. Understandably, it is not part of our indigenous tradition as Filipinos. That's not to say I don't like the idea. In fact, given that the wife/mother is the central figure in Filipino homes, I am flattered by all the attention given to me by everyone in the family on this special day.

Sonora Dodd of Spokane, Washington, is credited for conceiving the idea of Father’s Day while she listened to a Mother’s Day sermon in 1909. She wanted a special day to honor her widowed father who was left to raise his six children on a farm. Spokane’s mayor chose a day in June for this purpose, because it was the birth month of Dodd's father. President Lyndon Johnson issued in 1966 the first presidential proclamation honoring fathers every third Sunday in June. However, it was President Richard Nixon who signed in 1972 the public law that made celebration of Father's Day permanent.

The most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother. -Henry Ward Beecher

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When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years. -Mark Twain

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It is a wise father that knows his own child. -William Shakespeare

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That is the thankless position of the father in the family - the provider for all, and the enemy of all. -J. August Strindberg

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It is much easier to become a father than to be one. -Kent Nerburn

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Fathers, like mothers, are not born. Men grow into fathers and fathering is a very important stage in their development. -David Gottesman

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A man knows when he is growing old because he begins to look like his father. -Gabriel García Márquez

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I cannot think of any need in childhood as strong as the need for a father's protection. -Sigmond Freud

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You know, fathers just have a way of putting everything together. -Erika Cosby

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A father is a banker provided by nature. -French Proverb

(Photo credit: www.sxc.hu)